Making the move to SAP S/4HANA isn’t a light decision, and it’s certainly not an easy process. There are sure to be unforeseen bumps along the way that will affect the scope, budget, and timeline of the project.

To get ahead, organizations can take the time to understand what common factors lead to failed projects, what steps they can take to avoid them, and how to plan for better decision-making when thinking about their own transformational projects.

ASUG News sat down with John Belden, project execution audit practice lead at UpperEdge, an organization that helps customers negotiate their deals with SAP and system integrators (SI). John has more than 30 years of experience implementing SAP systems and was responsible for a $220 million dollar project recognized as one of the most successful deployments of SAP at global manufacturing company, Timken.

We discussed some of the steps an organization can proactively take to mitigate risks, as well as how to focus and plan for a successful project. In this first article of our multipart series, we focus on identifying common traits that can lead to failed projects and the early first steps organizations can take to avoid them.

Sharon: What factors lead to major transformational project failures?